Didn't see a thread to this on the first page, so I made this one. Talk about whatever you want in here: fun stuff, parts that could be changed, crazy PC antics, questions, what have you.
A question I have: where in Golarion does this take place? It says it takes place in Bellis and "a forest", but I didn't see anything beyond that.
Some other stuff:
-Similarities to Kingmaker: Sound of a Thousand Screams? Oh yeah. Think I might "borrow" and scale some of the glades down when I run it.
-Drunken. Treant. GENIUS!
-Kinda got a Wicker Man vibe off the bees and honey. I'm thinking Tenzekil will be modeled after Nicholas Cage.
-Addressing the council seems like something that players will spend WAY too much time on. Has anyone had this problem?
A question I have: where in Golarion does this take place? It says it takes place in Bellis and "a forest", but I didn't see anything beyond that.
http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Bellis has some more information.
http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Bellis has some more information.
A question I have: where in Golarion does this take place? It says it takes place in Bellis and "a forest", but I didn't see anything beyond that.
Ah, thank you! I was also thinking about running a mini-session where the PC's interact with the fey in Bellis (their hometown) as children. Depending on which fey they interacted with and what they did, they would get a trait out of it. Thoughts?
-Addressing the council seems like something that players will spend WAY too much time on. Has anyone had this problem?
In general, the time with the council can be adjusted to suit your group. You can make this as RP intensive as you like. Keep in mind this is a turning point in the game. The party will no longer be reacting to events, but taking a proactive role in causing events. They now have enough pieces of the puzzle to plan a course of action. To me, this is a good opportunity for the party to overcome a social challenge of getting all the individual factions to unite, as the rest of the module will be resolved mostly through combat.
Didn't see a thread to this on the first page, so I made this one. Talk about whatever you want in here: fun stuff, parts that could be changed, crazy PC antics, questions, what have you.
The Fellnight Queen product page has a fair amount of this type of discussion on it if you want to peruse that thread. There's also a couple of links to some posts on the Paizo blog where additional "director's cut" material got shared, including a way to jazz up one of the primary encounters in the adventure.
A question I have: where in Golarion does this take place? It says it takes place in Bellis and "a forest", but I didn't see anything beyond that.
Bellis is located on the extreme eastern border of Andoran inside the Verduran Forest. It's described in the Inner Sea World Guide as well as the original Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting sourcebook under the Andoran entry. I actually consulted that material and the description of the beekeeping industry in Bellis when coming up with ideas for Fellnight Queen.
-Similarities to Kingmaker: Sound of a Thousand Screams? Oh yeah. Think I might "borrow" and scale some of the glades down when I run it.
Fellnight Queen predates Kingmaker a bit, but I've heard a number of folks say they've incorporated the module into their campaigns. They do have a fair amount of synergy between them if you wanted to reset the module in the River Kingdoms.
-Drunken. Treant. GENIUS!
Thank you. That one small encounter really resonated with a lot of people. I suspect it was a strong factor in swaying folks to vote for the adventure proposal during RPG Superstar. And, for those who played in my prequel adventure Shadow of the Fellnight Queen, which I ran at PaizoCon last year, they know the real reason why Vinroot regularly inebriates himself.
-Kinda got a Wicker Man vibe off the bees and honey. I'm thinking Tenzekil will be modeled after Nicholas Cage.
I didn't really model him after anyone specific. But, if I had to compare him to someone, I'd probably tap Rumplestiltskin from Grimm's fairy tales.
-Addressing the council seems like something that players will spend WAY too much time on. Has anyone had this problem?
As one of the earlier posters responded, there's a pretty significant "combat" scene which I included in the original manuscript during the PCs' visitation with the council. Sadly, that had to go for space reasons. But, if you listen to the Pathfinder Chronicles podcast they referenced, I go into some fairly specific detail about it. Might be worth checking out...
My two cents,
--Neil
@Neil Spicer: I meant that I will make Tenzekil act like Nicholas Cage for comedic purposes, mainly for comedic affect. That or have a random NPC who acts like Cage accompany them into the Fellnight Realm only to get killed by the bee swarm.
Think I'll go with Nix Tharel and your ideas on the council, it seems like a better idea.
My favorite PF module to date.
Any chance we could get the paizocon Prequel in a PDF? :)
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Any chance we could get the Paizocon prequel in a PDF? :)
I offered up the idea as a future product for Paizo last year...kind of in the same vein as how the free RPG day module, Revenge of the Kobold King, followed Crown of the Kobold King. Only, instead of moving the story ahead, Shadow of the Fellnight Queen would actually fill in some of what transpired before the series of events destined to occur in Realm of the Fellnight Queen. I've also got ideas for a larger sequel, too. A three-part series has definitely taken shape in my mind. But it's up to Paizo to green-light something like that. If fans really want it, then let them know.
In the meantime, it's quite unlikely you'd see a PDF version of the prequel. Those take just as much development time and layout as the real thing. Bottom line is that if anything like this were to materialize, Paizo would have to make room for it as they're building their next product schedule. And, because a sequel might sell less than a continuation (i.e., people who have already played RotFQ might not care to go back and play SotFQ), about the only way I could see it come to fruition is if it were another free RPG day giveaway. And, I think Paizo has gone a different direction with those to stir up interest in the Pathfinder Society organized play moreso than what this prequel would entail. It's not impossible, though. I mean Shadow of the Fellnight Queen could easily be done up as a PFS-sanctioned mini-module along the same lines as Master of the Fallen Fortress. You just never know...
--Neil
Yeeeaaaarrrrgggghhhhh! <- vote for a three part prequel. I'm encouraging other Paizonians to Yeeaaarghhhhh! As well.
I think many others would enjoy a prequel regardless if they already have completed Fellnight, as long as the story could stand on it's own as well. For those of us who haven't been able to run Fellnight yet, it would be an awesome mini- campaign ending at 9th level. It has potential ;)
We must champion this!
Yeeeeaaaaarrrrgggghhhhh!
Btw, I never really cared much for Fey- related adventures before this module and Kingmaker, nice job Paizo.
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That's the spirit! :-)
For anyone who's interested, here's the synopsis for the prequel (as well as a handful of pregen character backgrounds which foreshadow some of the plot). And, deeper in the thread, you can get a sense of the players' reactions to it. I even thought about re-running this for PaizoCon, but figured I should probably do something new and different.
That's the spirit! :-)
For anyone who's interested, here's the synopsis for the prequel (as well as a handful of pregen character backgrounds which foreshadow some of the plot). And, deeper in the thread, you can get a sense of the players' reactions to it. I even thought about re-running this for PaizoCon, but figured I should probably do something new and different.
Another vote for a sequel here!
Neil has a talent for characterization. Both his villains and his PCs have thoroughly detailed and interesting backgrounds.
Lazlo from the Shadow of the Fellnight Queen was loads of fun to play! I can remember him to this day, "Pretty gems for sweet Lumi..."
Where are the "Yeeeaaarrrgggghhhs!" ? :(
I really like RotFQ, and would be glad to see a sequel (or two)!
I recently used Vinroot in my campaign (set in the River Kingdoms but not using Kingmaker) as the PC's were aiding the fey against Queen Rhoswen. I love that drunken treant!
Queen Rhoswen and Tenzekil are both players in my ongoing fey plots. While I'm not using the module as is, it has definitely impacted my campaign plots. /salute!
I recently used Vinroot in my campaign (set in the River Kingdoms but not using Kingmaker) as the PC's were aiding the fey against Queen Rhoswen. I love that drunken treant! Queen Rhoswen and Tenzekil are both players in my ongoing fey plots. While I'm not using the module as is, it has definitely impacted my campaign plots. /salute!
Very cool. I enjoy making memorable characters...both as PCs and NPCs. So, taking my time on Vinroot, Tenzekil, and Rhoswen were very important to me. And, much like you've discovered, sometimes characters like that can transcend a single module and become useful in all kinds of ways that don't necessarily pertain just to that adventure. I'm glad you found them useful and appear to be having as much fun with them as I did in crafting them. /return salute
I'm running Realm of the Fellnight Queen as a PbP here on these boards.
Right now, the heroes are in the middle of a custom encounter I made, in an abandoned logging camp. The encounter was inspired by the one of the entries from the Random encounters in the Fellnight Mist blog post.
Once my players are through the encounter, I will post the details of the encounter, complete with stat blocks and map, if anyone are interested.
In the mean time, check out the JaceDKs Realm Of The Fellnight Queen PbP game thread for a preview.
P.S. - I'd like to add my +1 to the hopes of seeing the Shadow of the Fellnight Queen prequel being made availabe in some form.
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I'm confused by Devarre's stats.
He's taken 7 points of wisdom damage? To go from 19 to 12. But then it says wis is currently 5 due to wis damage... If its 5 , instead of 12, he can't cast spells as outlined in the combat section. As is he's about a cr 8 threat, with all the wis damage.
The main thing throwing me off is saying his wis is 5. If it said currently seven less due to wis damage or something I'd understand. But at 5 his penalty to wis skills should be more, and should have no spells accessible .
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Fellnight Queen predates Kingmaker a bit, but I've heard a number of folks say they've incorporated the module into their campaigns. They do have a fair amount of synergy between them if you wanted to reset the module in the River Kingdoms.
One of the biggest criticisms of the Kingmaker campaign is that the first five modules focus on a certain theme and playstyle, and the sixth goes off on a completely different tangent that's only loosely foreshadowed in the previous supplements. Your module effectively ties together the mundane and magical, and the level requirements of the module places it at precisely the right moment in Kingmaker where that synergy is needed. Incorporating the module makes the thematic segue far less awkward!
** spoiler omitted **
I don't have answers to your questions offhand.
However, if you are looking to prepare for this, I highly recommend listening to Chronicles: Pathfinder Podcast episode that reviewed this module. They cover some other pitfalls with that scene.
thank you
Any chance that someone has created high definition printable maps of Queen Rhoswens castle??
I know a lot of RotR playes/GMs have user contributed stuff like high resolution maps ...
I'm leaning towards my homemade 2.5D cardboard tile set, but they lack the magical green plant flavour from the (otherwise amazing) module ;-)
I used Queen Rhoswen as my main antagonist for the culmination of the first-half of my homebrew River Kingdoms campaign three years ago. I saw this thread and it reminded me how much I liked her.
I modified her stat block slightly as I recall, and I gave her the leadership feat so she could have a melee cohort (Daedalus) since I had a party of 6 players. Here is a link to the description I posted of the final encounter. Session #37 is the entry.
I should also say that the PCs had befriended Tenzekil previously, although he started off as an enemy when they first began encountering him. Over time their good natures made him question his ways, and he wound up considering them "friends" (although his definition of a friend is fairly warped).
I'm prepping to run this, and really looking forward to it, but there's one thing I can't figure out. I'm probably missing something obvious, but...
When the PCs arrive in the Fellnight Realm, where on the map do they appear? I can't see it marked, or mentioned in the text. Like I say, I'm probably just not seeing a big red "You are here" arrow...
I'm thinking I'll put them on the west side, slightly north of the big clearing in the forest where the break in the Faengard is. Does that make sense?
I'm prepping to run this, and really looking forward to it, but there's one thing I can't figure out. I'm probably missing something obvious, but...
When the PCs arrive in the Fellnight Realm, where on the map do they appear? I can't see it marked, or mentioned in the text. Like I say, I'm probably just not seeing a big red "You are here" arrow...
I'm thinking I'll put them on the west side, slightly north of the big clearing in the forest where the break in the Faengard is. Does that make sense?
That sounds about right.
Once the PCs enter the Fellnight Realm, they must make their way past her camped foot soldiers, go through the opening in the faengard, replace the missing wardstones, infiltrate Rhoswen’s castle, and use her staff to restore the faengard, then return to Golarion. They appear in the northwesternmost part of the Fellnight Realm map.
Good luck with your game. This module is a blast to run. Be sure to check out the podcast linked to above. I also have a copy of some extra material. Throw me a PM if you are interested.
That sounds about right.
** spoiler omitted **
Good luck with your game. This module is a blast to run. Be sure to check out the podcast linked to above. I also have a copy of some extra material. Throw me a PM if you are interested.
D'oh! See, I said I was missing something obvious. I must have scanned that paragraph several times and not noticed it...
I've downloaded the podcast and will listen to it when I get a chance. I've heard about a combat with Rhoswen that was supposed to take place during the nightmare, and that sounds like a great idea (my party is mostly martial, so they're going to struggle with her). I've bookmarked the blog with the random encounters, too, and I think that's all the extra material I'll need. We only get to play once every 2 weeks for 2.5 to 3 hours at a time, so if I add any more, we'll be playing the module for months! Although I very much appreciate your offer. :)
I am planning to mix up the encounters a bit. As I said, most of my PCs are martial (paladin, fighter, gunslinger, ranger and alchemist), and pretty much all of them have ACs around the 23-24 mark, so CR4 Spriggans with +3 or +4 on their attack rolls are not going to touch them.
I'm thinking I'll boost the spriggans with some templates (I like their flavour, just not their uselessness) and find some higher CR monsters for the other encounters. I'll likely swap out the Assassin Vines for a Tendriculos, for example, since they're more Fey related anyway.
Any other ideas for changes would be good!
I've run Realm of the Fellnight Queen as a PbP here on these boards, where I included a custom encounter I made, in an abandoned logging camp. The encounter was inspired by the one of the entries from the Random encounters in the Fellnight Mist blog post.
I can probably dig up the the details of the encounter, complete with stat blocks and map, if anyone are interested.
I also highly recommend running a nightmare combat with Rhoswen, to give the PC's a preview of her tactics and a chance to prepare properly. In my game, I made an effective TPK in very short time, to the utter horror of my players. Once they recovered, they handled the actual end fight much better.
You can check out the game here: JaceDKs Realm Of The Fellnight Queen PbP game thread.
Unfortunately, the map links are all dead, but I should have the maps saved on my old laptop.
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Is Shadow of the Fellnight Queen available anywhere? I am planning to run Realm for my players eventually, but if there is a prequel, it would be nice to run that first... Thanks!
The prequel doesn't exist anywhere except in my own mind and a handful of notes I've used to run it multiple times now at various game conventions. In fact, I'll be running it again this coming Saturday for a select group of 6 players at PaizoCon 2016 using 5th level pregen PCs.
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I'm confused by Devarre's stats.
Spoiler:He's taken 7 points of Wisdom damage? To go from 19 to 12. But then it says Wis is currently 5 due to Wis damage...If its 5, instead of 12, he can't cast spells as outlined in the combat section. As is he's about a CR 8 threat, with all the Wis damage....The main thing throwing me off is saying his Wis is 5. If it said currently seven less due to Wis damage or something I'd understand. But at 5 his penalty to Wis skills should be more, and should have no spells accessible....Also, wouldn't he need an atonement to cast? He wouldn't lose Druid abilities for killing his own animal companion?
Belated answers for you:
In my original turnover, his current Wis score was indeed 12 after suffering 7 points of Wis damage. Somewhere during the editing/development cycle, an additional 7 points got deducted taking him from 12 to 5...which was an error. It got pointed out in the product discussion thread, I believe. Bottom line, he should be Wis 12 with the ability to still use his lower level spells.
Additionally, with regards to him needing an atonement to cast, he doesn't know that he killed his own animal companion yet. He only designed a trap to capture/kill it and doesn't know if it's been successful yet when the PCs arrive. So, it shouldn't impact his ability to cast spells yet (i.e., there's no all-knowing deity revoking his druidic powers). Now, after the PCs save Devarre by driving out the evil will-o'-wisp possessing him...and, once Devarre discovers his dead animal companion...that's when the weight of his betrayal of the druidic principles will hit him. As a result, he'll lose access to all his spells at that point, and that's why he stays behind after telling the PCs how to find Dead Man's Drop. He needs to bury his animal companion, atone for his "sins" (presumably with assistance from some other ally), and then he'll look to rejoin the PCs at the fey conclave.
Hope that helps,
--Neil
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Battle with Rhoswen:
Spoiler:I was wondering in Rhoswen's tactics it says she hides in the columns using small holes to observe the fight and casting. What would alert the PCs to her presence in a particular pillar, how big are the holes (aka DC on perception) and how would a PC go about getting her out of there (besides spell casting and piercing weapons.
More belated answers:
Once they know where she's hiding, the trick to getting her to leave a given column is to do considerable damage to it. The few times I've run this scenario, I've seen multiple strategies come into play. Alchemist bombs, flasks of acid or alchemist's fire, and any damaging area effect spells are reasonable. Physical attacks with weapons against a column can also crack it open (i.e., it's not that much different from splitting open a large bamboo stem). From there, it's just a matter of defining each column's hardness and hit points like any other object. Again, I wish we'd had room to define it in the adventure, but in a pinch, most GMs can wing it. I'd recommend making them no better than a simple wooden door (hardness 5, 10 hit points) or even something less (hardness 3, 8 hit points) to reflect that they're not designed to withstand major demolition. Strategically, the columns are there just to buy Rhoswen time and distance so attackers can't do the anti-climactic grapple and pin maneuver against her as a standalone BBEG. That's all you really need to be concerned about in running the encounter. Don't let the PCs get the upper hand too fast, and slow down Rhoswen's assault if she's taking them apart too early, as well. As a supremely proud villain, she's not above wasting a few rounds monologuing or taunting them rather than unleashing her full arsenal of spells round after round.
Hope that helps,
--Neil
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I'm prepping to run this, and really looking forward to it, but there's one thing I can't figure out. I'm probably missing something obvious, but...When the PCs arrive in the Fellnight Realm, where on the map do they appear? I can't see it marked, or mentioned in the text. Like I say, I'm probably just not seeing a big red "You are here" arrow...
This was another of those things lost between the original manuscript/map turnover and the final published adventure. They should definitely appear in the upper, northwest corner of the Fellnight Realm map. Originally, I had another encounter marked right at the entrance where the PCs would be engaged in a running battle involving mounted combat (with them riding unicorns and Rhoswen's Fellnight spriggans riding evil blink dogs). That encounter got cut due to space constraints, so the arrival point on the map likely disappeared, as well. Sorry for the confusion.
Hope that helps,
--Neil
...most of my PCs are martial (paladin, fighter, gunslinger, ranger and alchemist), and pretty much all of them have ACs around the 23-24 mark, so CR4 Spriggans with +3 or +4 on their attack rolls are not going to touch them.
Looking back, I wish I could have addressed this concern. Lots of folks commented that the spriggans wound up being pushovers due to their inability to hit the ACs of 7th level PCs. Sometimes, I wonder if that's because folks have optimized their PCs by having ACs above the norm? From a game design standpoint, the Fellnight spriggans were established as a reasonable CR 4 threat. And, in numbers, they should have still made for a decent encounter for the APL of the 7th level PCs. Regardless, maybe they could still be ramped up a bit with the Advanced simple template, a class level or two, etc.
I'll likely swap out the Assassin Vines for a Tendriculos, for example, since they're more Fey related anyway. Any other ideas for changes would be good!
You may want to consider the mythic assassin vine from Legendary Game's Mythic Monsters: Plants PDF. That should put some fear into them.
My two cents,
--Neil
Queen of the Fellnight Realm was the first Paizo adventure i ran ever and i have very fond memories.
Due to the party having a freedom domain cleric, a barbarian, a psionic (DSP Ultimate Psionics), a fireloving gnome sorcerer and a ranger, who understood buffing very well, i had to make quite some adaptions as well.
I don´t remember what i did to the spriggans, but i know i used the advanced simple template very liberal, as well as giving out full or even double full hp.
Problem with the CR is often that when you take enough small critters to hit the CR, the single ones still aren´t strong enough to hurt them, so they need some buffing as well. Kind of the right amount between buffing/templates/class levels etc and numbers.
Thanks for the advice Neil, it's really helpful. I'll check out the Mythic Assassin Vine suggestion, scaring my PCs with something mythic sounds fun.
My PCs haven't really optimised AC, they're all first time players, so I'd imagine they're mostly "average". Looking at the numbers, the paladin and fighter are 24 and 23 AC respectively, the rest have 21 or 22 AC. So I guess I could maybe do some damage if the spriggans attack the ranged combatants. I think I'll still apply the Advanced template, though.
First session will be next week, after my PCs dispatch of Drazmorg in Hungry are the Dead!
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Thanks for spelling out how to run the pillars' hp/hardness, Neil. I'm prepping Rhoswen for this Satyrday(heh) and since it's for PFS, winging stuff can get complicated fast.
I assume that being inside the hollows of the pillars would not count as being within a tree for tree tride? "You can, at your option, remain within a tree without transporting yourself, but you are forced out when the spell ends. If the tree in which you are concealed is chopped down or burned, you are slain if you do not exit before the process is complete." Otherwise it's one full attack vs a pillar and bye bye Queenie.
Wait, exiting from a tree ends the spell? So is she supposed to recast it once inside a hollow interior? Or does she keep using the same tree tride spell and try to outthink the PC's so they don't have enough actions to destroy an occupied pillar? Okay, color me confused.
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I assume that being inside the hollows of the pillars would not count as being within a tree for tree tride?
The pillars of her throne room are hollow inside (like a really big bamboo pole or still living hollow tree). So, she basically uses tree stride to enter a column's exterior, stride to another one, and emerge from its interior wall rather than its exterior wall. From there, she has various "view ports" or holes through which she can still see into the chamber, and cast spells upon her attackers. This is an unorthodox, intentionally different way of using tree stride in a tactical manner to keep melee attackers from closing too quickly on her.
...exiting from a tree ends the spell? So is she supposed to recast it once inside a hollow interior? Or does she keep using the same tree tride spell and try to outthink the PC's so they don't have enough actions to destroy an occupied pillar? Okay, color me confused.
Once she exits into the interior of a column, the current tree stride spell ends. She'd have to cast it again to re-enter that column and move to another. She always has the choice of remaining inside the actual wood of the column rather than exiting to its interior hollow (or its exterior facing). The only way she can cast spells on her opponents from within the "tree" is to exit into its interior, however. So, this tactic has a limited capability for her. She can only cast her 5th level spells five times per day. So, if she uses baleful polymorph and shadow evocation a lot, she won't have the tree stride option available to her very often. If she did, this encounter would be even more brutal.
Hope that helps,
--Neil
Thanks for the advice Neil, it's really helpful. I'll check out the Mythic Assassin Vine suggestion, scaring my PCs with something mythic sounds fun.
If I had it to do over again, I'd probably re-jigger Rhoswen's stat-block and give her at least one mythic tier. :)
I finally get to start running this next week, very excited about it!
Another question: are there rules for the horse shoe toss game at the wedding? The adventure explains that you need to encourage people to join, and states the prize, but not how the game works. Any ideas on how to play it out? My guess would be using ranged attack rolls to hit the target, but not sure about ACs and the attack bonuses to use for NPCs, and it seems to be a team game...
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...are there rules for the horseshoe toss game at the wedding? The adventure explains that you need to encourage people to join, and states the prize, but not how the game works. Any ideas on how to play it out? My guess would be using ranged attack rolls to hit the target, but not sure about ACs and the attack bonuses to use for NPCs, and it seems to be a team game...
From my original manuscript turnover:
The ever popular game of horseshoes entertains citizens from all walks of life in Bellis. Both competitors receive three horseshoes to pitch, scoring points if they land within six inches of an iron stob approximately 30 feet away. The first thrower to reach 15 points wins the match. Throwers determine whose horseshoes come closest by making ranged attacks against AC 15. A “ringer” results on a critical hit (usually a natural 20) and awards 3 points. For the purposes of the game, however, a thrower increases his horseshoe's critical threat range by his Dex modifier. Thus, a thrower with a +1 Dex modifier may score a “ringer” on a natural roll of 19-20, and so on.
If no “ringers” are scored, the thrower with the overall highest result hitting AC 15 has the closest horseshoe to the stob, which awards them 1 point. A thrower may score points with multiple horseshoes if each of them come closer to the stob than his opponent's (i.e., multiple attack rolls hit AC 15 and exceed all of the opponent's results). Identical results from differing opponents cancel each other, awarding no points for those particular horseshoes.
This didn't add much to the overall adventure, so it was an easy cut during development. The proposed rules don't account for other aspects of the game (such as "leaners" etc.), but they could serve in a pinch. If you want to play it in teams, then there's usually two people at each stob partnered with someone at the other stob. They then take turns pitching horseshoes from one end to the other with each individual's throws contributing points to the team score.
Excellent, thank you! I'll go with these rules, it's quick and easy to play out. As you say, it doesn't add too much to the proceedings, but should make a fun distraction early in the session.